Saturday, February 14, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Galatians 1
Key Verse
Galatians 1:13 — “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:”
Devotional Thought
Paul opens his letter to the Galatians with a thunderclap of credentials: his apostleship came “not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ.” Why does this matter on a Saturday in mid-February? Because the gospel itself is at stake in how we answer one question: who gets to define the good news? Paul’s answer is unflinching. The message he preached was “not after man” but by “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Everything else in the letter flows from that claim. If the gospel is a human invention, we may edit it to suit our preferences. If it is God’s revelation, we receive it with open hands and hold it without alteration.
Paul is astonished that the Galatian churches are “so soon removed” from the One who called them “into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.” The false teachers troubling them offered a gospel that was “not another” at all — merely a perversion, a counterfeit. Paul pronounces a double anathema, even upon an angel from heaven, upon himself, upon anyone who would preach otherwise. This is not the language of a man seeking to please people. “For if I yet pleased men,” he writes, “I should not be the servant of Christ.” The servant of Christ must sometimes say hard things. The shepherd who loves the sheep will not let them drink from poisoned wells.
Then Paul tells his story. He was a persecutor who “wasted” the church, advancing in Judaism “above many my equals,” “exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” But God, who “separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,” revealed His Son in him. Notice the sequence: grace preceded effort, calling preceded obedience. Paul did not immediately consult “flesh and blood,” nor did he rush to Jerusalem to get approval from the other apostles. He went to Arabia, then Damascus, and only after three years did he meet Peter and James. The gospel needed no human endorsement, and neither did Paul’s commission.
This is a fitting meditation for Valentine’s weekend, when our culture celebrates love. The truest love ever shown was that Christ “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” That is the gospel Paul refused to compromise. In a season of flowers and cards and candlelit dinners, let us remember the greater love: the Son of God crucified for sinners, risen from the dead, calling us by grace. And let us be as jealous for that message as Paul was — unwilling to trade its purity for anyone’s approval.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you tempted to add to or soften the gospel — whether to please people, avoid conflict, or fit in — and what would it look like this week to hold fast to the message Paul received “by the revelation of Jesus Christ”?
- Paul says God “separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace.” How does tracing God’s hand in your own story — even the years before you knew Him — strengthen your confidence that your calling is from Him and not from men?
Prayer
Father, we thank You for the gospel that is not after man but by revelation of Jesus Christ. Thank You that Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil world, according to Your will. Keep us from being “so soon removed” from Him who called us by grace. Guard us from every perverted gospel, whether it comes from the world, from angels, or from our own hearts. Make us servants of Christ rather than pleaders of men. And like Paul, let our lives tell the story of Your separating, calling, revealing grace, so that others may glorify God in us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.